The present invention relates generally to toys and games, and specifically to flying toys and methods and apparatus for launching such toys.
The boomerang was originally invented by the aborigines of Australia as a hunting weapon. It typically comprises two mutually-angled wings connected at a vertex. The wings are shaped so that when the boomerang is thrown in the proper manner, it will describe a circuit and return to the point from which it was thrown. Throwing the boomerang properly, however, requires considerable strength, coordination and skill. The thrower must launch the boomerang with the proper combination of forward and rotational momentum, using the muscles of his arm, hand, leg and torso, in order to obtain the desired aerodynamic effect. Boomerangs have thus achieved limited popularity as toys, due to the difficulties in throwing them and the danger that a misguided boomerang will strike a participant or bystander. Light-weight and very small boomerangs cannot generally be thrown with sufficient momentum to make them fly in a circuit.
Other flying toys known in the art, such as the Frisbee and other toys based on propellers, parachutes and flying rings, also rely on a combination of forward and rotational momentum to develop lift. Such toys do not generally have the characteristic of the boomerang of being able to return accurately to the point from which they were thrown.
European Patent Application EP071319 describes apparatus for launching a boomerang or other, similar article. A holder has a continuous slot for receiving the boomerang, with a narrow end into which the vertex is inserted and a wide end for the wings. A striker strikes the vertex through an opening in the narrow end of the holder, thus propelling the boomerang forward. A stop at one of the sides of the wide end of the holder engages and restrains the tip of one of the wings, causing the boomerang to rotate around that tip as it moves forward out of the holder.
The boomerang launcher described in this European application suffers from a number of drawbacks: (1) Because of its fixed, partly closed mechanical structure, it is capable of accepting and launching boomerangs only of a very limited range of sizes and wing angles. (2) It includes a large number of different parts, including several moving parts, which increase its cost and decrease its reliability. (3) The slot into which the boomerang must be inserted restrains the boomerang at multiple points along its length, so that a part of the energy imparted by the striker is wasted in freeing the boomerang from the launcher. (4) Further energy is wasted when the wing tip engages the stop, since force is exerted at this point on the boomerang in a direction more or less opposite to the desired flight direction. Only the other, unrestrained wing has forward momentum and can develop the lift necessary for the boomerang to fly. (5) Because the striker exerts a sudden, percussive force on the boomerang, the launcher cannot be used with boomerangs that are particularly small and flexible.
It is an object of some aspects of the present invention to provide improved apparatus and methods for launching of boomerangs and other flying toys.
It is a further object of some aspects of the present invention to provide boomerangs and launchers that can be produced simply and inexpensively, with a minimal number of separate parts.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a launcher for a flying object, such as a boomerang, having a body that includes a plurality of wings, the launcher including:
a stop, against which the object rests at a point on its body; and
a moving member, which engages one of the wings of the object so as to impart forward motion thereto, such that the object is propelled forward from the launcher with a rotational motion about the stop.
Preferably, the moving member includes a resilient element, which is pulled back and then released in order to impart the forward motion to the wing.
Further preferably, the launcher includes a generally planar base on which the object is placed before launching, wherein the stop and the moving element protrude from the base, wherein the base, stop and moving member are most preferably made from a single sheet of material, which is folded to form the stop and moving member.
There is further provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a launcher for a flying object, such as a boomerang, the launcher including:
a sheet of resilient material, defining a plane on which the object rests before launching; and
a moving member, formed by folding a portion of the sheet, which engages the object and which is pulled back and then released so as to impart forward motion to the object.
Preferably, along with the forward motion, the moving member imparts to the object rotational motion in the plane of the sheet.
Preferably, the sheet is partially cut and is folded to form the moving member so that when the member is pulled back and released, it bends about an axis generally perpendicular to the plane of the sheet. Further preferably, the moving member includes an extension of the sheet, which is folded over itself and is then folded out of the plane and fixed to the sheet so as to form an angle of approximately 90xc2x0 thereto. Most preferably, the launcher includes substantially no functional elements that are not a part of the sheet of resilient material.
There is also provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a flying toy, preferably a boomerang, including a substantially flat sheet of material, which is cut to form a plurality of wings joined at a vertex, wherein one or more of the wings are folded to produce lift flaps.
There is additionally provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for producing a flying toy, such as a boomerang, from a substantially flat sheet of material, including:
cutting the material to form a plurality of wings joined at a vertex; and
folding one or more of the wings to form lift flaps.
There is moreover provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for producing a launcher for a flying object, including:
cutting a sheet of resilient material so as to define a planar portion on which the object rests before launching and a movable portion; and
preparing one or more folds in the sheet, along which the movable portion of the sheet is folded to produce a moving member, which engages the object and which is pulled back and then released so as to impart forward motion to the object.
Preferably, the sheet is cut so that when the portion is folded, the moving member bends about an axis generally perpendicular to the plane of the sheet when the member is pulled back and released.
There is furthermore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for launching a flying object, such as a boomerang, having a body that includes a plurality of wings, the method including:
resting the object against a stop at a point on the body of the object; and
bringing a moving member into engagement with one of the wings of the object so as to impart forward motion thereto, such that the object is launched with a rotational motion about the stop.
Preferably, bringing the moving member into engagement with the one of the wings includes pulling back and releasing a resilient element.
The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof, taken together with the drawings in which: